Folding and sliding door window, and the like



March 30, 1937. A. J. HARRISON 2,075,716

FOLDING AND SLIDING DOOR, WINDOW, AND THE LIKE Filed May 29, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 v g i I flLBEET J. Hmee/sQ/v March 30, 1937. I A. .1. HARRISON 2,075,716

I FOLDING AND SLIDING DOOR, WINDOW, AND THE LIKE Filed May 29, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 30, 1937 UNITED STATES:

PATENT OFFICE FOLDING AND SLIDING DOOR WINDOW, AND THE LIKE Application May 29, 1936, Serial No. 82,631 In Great Britain February 19, 1935 4 Claims.

This invention relates to folding and sliding doors, windows and the like of the kind which are guided by an overhead guide track and the object of the invention is to provide track-engaging means. which will bridge a gap or gaps existing in the track, i. e. pass said gap or gaps without interfering with the motion of the door or window. This invention is especially applicable to doors of garages for accommodating trolley buses,

in which case the gap or gaps necessary for the passage of the trolley arm can be formed in the guide track.

According to the invention there is provided in conjunction with and for engagement with a gapped guide track, an elongated runner attached to the top of some of the door leaves, said runner or the head thereof is of T-form being longitudinally disposed in the guide track and being adapted to traverse same. Said runner has a length such as to bridge the gap or gaps formed in the guide track during the opening or closing of the door leaves, thus maintaining said leaves in their vertical position as they pass and repass said gaps.

Preferably the entire weight of the folding or sliding structure is taken by means at the base thereof which traverses a bottom track rail, so that the upper runners merely serve to vertically position the leaves and maintain such disposition whilst passing the gap or gaps, by co-operation with side walls of the track.

The accompanying drawings illustrate, by way of example, a practical embodiment of the invention applied to folding doors suitable for closing the entrance to a garage for accommodating trol- 0 ley-fitted vehicles. In the drawings:

Figure l is a face view of the complete door unit shown in closed position.

Figure 2 is a sectional planview on the line ll-l I in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section through the upper guide track showing the relative dispositions of two adjacent guide members when the door is open.

Figure 4 is a cross section on line IV--IV in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the dimensions of a guide member in relation to a pair of adjacent gaps formed in the guide track, and

Figures 6, 'I and 8 are side elevation, cross-section and sectional plan views respectively of one of the bottom runners which travels on a bottom track rail.

The apparatus shown in the drawings comprises an upper guide track constituted by back and front angle-section bars, 9, l0 having their horizontal limbs attached to the underface of the beamll so that their vertical limbs depend and are spaced apart in parallel dispositiomanglesection flange members I2 being attached to the lower parts of said bars to restrict the space existing between them at the bottom. In the said bars, at necessary positions are formed gaps [3 arranged in pairs, for the passage through them of electric conductor wires I4 provided for trolley vehicles.

To the upper faces of some of the leaves I5 of the doors, which in the example shown are two in number and meet at the centre, are attached runners, each of which comprises a base plate It fitted flush with the top of the door leaf and fitted with a stud H on the upstanding part of which is pivotally mounted by its dropped shape portion I8, a bar I9, a guide roller 2|] also being mounted on said stud. On each of the arms 2| of the bar are rotatably mounted a series of guide rollers 22 rotatable about vertical axes, said rollers having rolling contact with guide-track bars 9, I0, and being so distributed that whilst the runner passes one of the gaps I3 or two adjacent gaps, at least two of the rollers are in contact with the guide track to preserve the lineal disposition of the runner, and as shown in Figure 5 one of the runners may be constructed that the front endmost roller will come into engagement with the section of track beyond a gap over which it is passing before the rear endrnost roller leaves the section of track situated beyond the rearmost The door leaves can be supported in any suitable manner at the bottom whereby said bottom support takes the entire weight and enables the leaves to traverse the opening, and by way of example alternate leaves of each door section may be fitted with a roller 23 having its carrier 24 rotatably mounted in a housing 25 which is let into the bottom of the door, so as to turn about a vertical axis within said housing. The roller has a rooved periphery whereby it is enabled to travel along a rail 26 bedded into the floor 21.

It will be seen therefore that in the construction shown each leaf will turn about a central vertical axis the pivots being constituted in the case of some leaves by the pivot of the bottom roller carrier 24 and by the stud ll of the upper runner. The intermediate leaves may be hinged at their sides to the leaves thus provided.

The depth of the dropped centre portion will vary in the case of different leaves, and some of the roller-fitted arms 2| of the bars l9 will be shortened, and thus one bar is able to pass beneath the other and will not interfere with the stowing of the door leaves when in opened position, as clearly shown in Figure 2.

A simple roller 28 can be fitted on a door leaf in positions where same does not have to pass a gap I 3.

Various modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims. For example as already stated the pivots about which the door leaves turn could be situated at a side of the leaf instead of at the centre, and instead of providing rollers on the arms of the bars l9, cast or stamped projections or spring-pressed or fixed protuberances or balls could project therefrom to gear on 4 the walls of the track or projecting balls could be provided on the track itself. The track also could be modified in construction for instance it might be of inverted channel section. These are only a few examples of possible variations.

I claima- 1. In combination with a structure having an opening, a guidetrack mounted at the top of said opening and comprising vertically disposed parallel spaced walls having gaps therein, a sectional closure for said opening, runners having downwardly stepped portions intermediate their ends and being-'pivotally attached at their intermediate downwardly stepped portions to top portions of said closure sections, said runners being of greater length than said gaps, rollers on said runners for cooperation with the walls of said guide track, a track rail at the bottom of said opening, and rolling means at the bottoms of said closure sections cooperating with said track rail.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which the rollers are distributed along the run ners and correlated with the gaps. in the guide track so that at least two rollers of each runner are always in contact with the guide track.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1 in I which the different runners have their portions to either end of their stepped portions disposed in different horizontal planes to enable different runners to pass one another.

4. In combination with a structure having an opening, a guide track mounted at the top of said opening and comprising vertically disposed parallel spaced walls having gaps therein, a sectional closure for said opening, runners pivotally mounted intermediate their ends to top portions of said closure sections and operating. between the walls ofisaid guide track, said runners being of greater length thanthe gaps in said guide track, the runners ofadjacent closure sections being disposed in different horizontal planes to enable them to pass one: another, and guiding and supporting means for. theclosure sections at the bottoms thereof;

ALBERT JOHN HARRISON. 

